Why I don't blog anymore

Heya!

Nate SMITH. That video is AWESOME. AWESOME. And, cough, nothing like my life. (And entirely parent inappropriate. Whoops ;) )

Speaking of my life, sorry it's been so long....has it been so long? I can't really keep track. The reason why I don't blog as much anymore is because I am settled here. And, I don't mean Settled with a capital "S." (No husband, No dog, No house, No Permanent Job, but a life resembling normalcy nonetheless.) SO, it just seems that life is a bit boring, and therefore not really reader-worthy. (I woke up this morning, I had some instant Quaker Oatmeal, It was gross, I went to work at a school near my neighborhood, I attempted to teach subtraction to a bunch of japesters, I reminded myself I want to skip being a mother during the 8-12 age range, I came home.) Nonetheless, here goes my blog attempt.

I've been comforted by the fact that, though everyone at home seems to be getting capital S-ed, everyone here (and Caufield too!) has been life-crisis-ing. Now, I wouldn't wish that upon anyone, but it's nice to know that I'm surrounded by people who don't have a CLUE what they are doing next year/where they are going to live/what job they are going to have/and so on and so forth and so on and on and...yea.

I'll continue where my poem left off. Andrew didn't come to France and I did not road trip. Three weekends ago we had our first "mixed hockey" tournament. Basically, mixed hockey is a co-ed summer team. And I am THRILLED that I am on it. It is a complete blast. (And girls and Mike, the boys on my team are a WHOLE lot of Mc.Steamys. Ow-Ow!) We play hours and hours of hockey in the sun (yes, English SUN), and then we have pints! (Not to mention the fact that it's a mixed ability team, so we are actually GOOD, and we won our first tournament.) It is nice to win after being on a team that won zero games all season. Additionally, it's a chance to improve my skills by playing with people who are so much better than I am.

After our tournament, Eric came down from Milton Keynes to hang out for the weekend. I LOVE having people visiting the city because it is an excuse to play tour-guide. (I heart playing tour-guide.) We ate awesome burritos and watched the London Marathon and went out in Camden and lazed in Hyde Park in the sun. (Have I mentioned the sun? Don't worry, apparently, it is supposed to start raining today and last all week.)

I started a pottery course, finally. An official one, at the YMCA, which incidentally is the first YMCA! The pottery teacher suuuuuucks. We are definitely paying for use of the space and materials, and not actually paying for the tutelage. Unfortunately, since I have no pottery experience, I can be assured that anything I make during the 8 week course will be lopsided and ugly. However, it is FUN, and I'm already looking forward to when I can sign up for a proper course somewhere else. I am in the process of making Evan and Paula a wedding gift, and it is going to be ugly, but it is made with love so it's okay, right? (PS: They got MARRIED last week. Whoah. Shout outs and congrats to Evan when you finally get around to reading this ;) )

In my attempt to give England a chance, during our long weekend (for May Day), I went to the Peaks District with Juliet and Rebecca (and Juliet's horribly annoying from Josh). Seriously, I'm a lover, but he was THE single most grating person I have ever met. Camping was good fun, despite the fact that it was oh-so-cold and rainy. We were able to get a few good hikes in, though.
I just really like this photo...but also, it captures the essence of hiking in England. Lots and Lots of farmland. The Peaks district doesn't really have any peaks, as it turns out.

Unfortunately, most places in England do not allow you to have an "open fire" so we had to make our s'mores using specially imported graham crackers over a disposable grill, instead of over a fire. They were still bad-ass though. (Did you know S'mores were solely a North American thing? As are graham crackers? As is the term "bad-ass?" As is the term "hater?" Don't even get me started on how I have had the misfortune of using these terminologies to embarrass myself.)
PHOTO

Last week I had a rougher time of teaching. I spent a couple days in a REALLY rough high school replacing a teacher who has been out for two months so the classes have basically had a string of substitutes. They were horrible, but how could I blame them? They have been completely failed by the system (sigh). And, speaking of school, if I hear ONE more student complain about how they are going to get SWINE FLU every time another student sneezes, I am going to Go-Go-Gadget self-destruct.

Luckily, this weekend erased any negative thoughts of England and its forsaken children. On Friday I attempted to get into a sold-out-in-five-minutes Beirut concert, but there were SO many people there trying to buy touted tickets that the police were EVERYWHERE. And for Beirut? I was shocked at how big they are in England. Needless to say, we didn't get in.

Saturday started off with five hours of hockey followed by three hours of clubhouse funtime (where I learned about the nectar of the gods--Pimms and Lemonade, while simultaneously learning the rules of cricket, which, by the way, is the most absurd game ever. What kind of sport gives you a TEA-TIME BREAK?! And makes you wear a frickin woolie-vest?!) After that, I went out for Juliet's birthday. We danced at my favorite cheesy club, Feeling Gloomy, where they only play pathetically emotional indie music like Idlewild and Morrissey and Blur. (It's the best place to dance ever, I swear!) I should have known it would be a long night when Adam and company showed up, but I foolishly assumed that I could still get to bed at a reasonable hour so that I could go running on Sunday morning. I watched the sunrise. I got home at 7:15am. I did my laundry. I washed my face. And then I rode my bike back over to watch football with the lads. My Saturday night didn't end until Sunday at midnight. Whoops! (But like a good daughter, I still managed to call my mother for mother's day. ;) )

So, that is pretty much catching you all up on the fairly mundane happenings of my life lately.

And finally, a list of my future locations--You can play "Where in the World is Sarah Hammer:"

1. Greece with Julie--May 22-May 31
2. Minneapolis, MN for Dan's wedding--June 26-June 29/30
3. MAYBE Seattle/SanFran/Portland??--July 1-4/5
4. Connecticut (or Bust, baby)--until July 30th
5. Israel--July 31-August 9
6. Spain (staying for FREE at my friend Jill's parents' place if anyone wants to come to the beach???)--August 10ish-August 25ish
7. England? Argentina? New York? Northern Ireland? Scotland? (In all seriousness, I'll probably be right back here come September...though I did find a place with 3 of my housemates and we are moving in two weeks pretty much right down the road. I have requested to be in a non-binding contract so I will not be paying for July or August, and I don't have to come back in September...)

Love and Miss you all,
Hammer

When I was a British Tourist, A poem in 73 Lines

Got home from Turkey
Ordered Indian takeaway
Couch-sat with Adam
Deemed him my stand-in boyfriend.

Went to the Tower of London
Saw some gaudy jewels
Giggled at the words "Yeoman Warders"
Discovered Yeoman Warders live at the Tower
Disvovered Yeoman Warders have a 10 O'clock curfew
Discovered I rather like the words "Yeoman Warders"
Took some photos.
Ate some chips
Went for a run
Got lost
Ate some more chips. With mayo.

Saw a famous comedian from San Francisco
Got called a "slut" by said comedian
Lauged because Julie and Isa used to call me "church-girl."

Went to the V+A Museum
Saw old stolen things
Dressed up in costume
Took photos.
Saw James MacAvoy in "Three Days of Rain"
Joined in the collective sigh when he entered the stage
Took more photos.

Boarded a train to Stonehenge with Rebecca
Wasn't impressed (Silly pile of rocks)
Took photos.
Slept in a hostel
Pretended to swim in the Old Roman Baths
Wished I owned a toga
Marveled at some pretty Abbeys
Took a long bus ride back to London.

Saw "The Tin Horizon" with Alex and Xan
Freaked out about bed bugs and decided to move out
Convinced all my housemates to move out
Realized we'd be breaking our contract
Decided to move out anyway.

Started house searching
Started crying
Drank cheap champagne
Stayed in bed all day
Rather enjoyed it
Felt better.

Went to a couch surfing party in Richmond
Enjoyed cider over looking the Thames
Went dancing
Fell in love with Couch Surfing
Fell in love with Richmond.

Went blow-up canoeing with a new friend
Spent six hours on the Thames
Got sunburned in England
Took Photos.

House searched some more.

Played board games in a pub with couch surfers
ROCKED Cranium
Made some more new friends
Realized "The Strand" is full of "City Boys" in Suits
Gagged
Vowed to live in Angel
Looked at Angel prices online and laughed. Ha!

Skyped with Andrew
Thought of spontaneously catching a £15 bus to France on Thursday
Still considering it
Tried to come up with ways to convince Eric not to come visit this weekend
Still scheming.

Dreamed of a Parisian road trip
Went to work in East Barnet, my dream school
Planned ways to get them to hire me for September
Planned the murdering of some English teachers
Decided they were all too cool
Ate lunch
Wrote this poem.

I'm not a chicken, you're just a TURKEY? (Part II)

Hey friends and fam...

AND WE'RE BACK. (Turkey, Part II)

After Istanbul we headed south on our first poorly-timed bus ride to Çanakkale to see Gallipoli. (If you ever get to Turkey and fancy busing around the country, plan on adding two hours to the ETA.) We got into Çanakkale (which, by the way, included an unexpected ferry ride) at 2am, and our couch-surfing host was there to meet us at the "bus station." "Bus Station" is a loosely used term because it was really just a dark, scary road where the bus stopped. (This, too, became a theme of my Turkish bus experience.) I really wish we could have spent more time with our host because he was SO cool and hospitable...I got to sleep in a great bed! He played the Balama, a 9 stringed Turkish instrument, and since Jason is a music teacher, we stayed up until 4am while the two of them played music. It was so relaxing. Unfortunately, we were only in Çanakkale to see Gallipoli, so we did not have time to stay another night.

Gallipoli. Well, we really only went there because Jason wanted to go. I had no desire to see a war sight, to be honest. However, as an Australian, it was really important for Jason to go...and I'm really glad that we went. I didn't know anything in detail about Gallipoli before we went, but it is such an important part of Aussie/Kiwi/Turkish history. The abridged version is this: During WWI the Allies sent a predominately Aussie/Kiwi force to Turkey to fight. It was supposed to be a quick victory, but after 8 months of brutal trench warfare, there were nearly 11,000 dead ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Army Corps), they admitted defeat, and retreated. The reason this battle is particularly noted is for the "gentlemanly acts" on both sides of the war. Ataturk (father of Turkey) said that any ANZAC soldier that died at Gallipoli will have an honorable burial, and that in death the soldiers of both sides will sleep arm in arm and comfort each other. Thousands of people gather on April 25th on ANZAC day to commemorate the deaths of the soldiers and to celebrate the friendship between Turkey and Australia/New Zealand. When we were there, there were many new Turkish soldiers there as well, as a kind of military history lesson in compassion. The sight itself is a gorgeous plot of land by the sea, about 35km in total. It is covered with grave stones with the names of all of the dead, including the names of the people whose bodies were never found. Jason and I walked about 10km through the territory and it was eerily peaceful. It is hard to imagine that so many people died on that land of such immense beauty.

This is a photo of Ephesus, specifically the library. We didn't make it to Troy (of Helen and the Trojan horse fame) but we went straight on to Selçuk, where we stayed in order to see the ruins of Ephesus. Troy will have to wait for my next Turkey trip (and there WILL be one. Turkey has SO much more to experience)! I don't even think I can properly describe Ephesus because I was so caught off guard by it. It is one of the most well preserved Ancient Greek ruins in existence. And honestly, upon my entrance to Ephesus through the top gate, I actually welled up with tears due to it's overwhelming beauty. Maybe it has something to do with being an English Major dork or something, but it was just better than anything I had imagined. I was telling Jason that I've seen plenty of breathtaking Mayan/Aztec ruins, but I'd never seen Greek/Roman ruins before, and it was just so spectacular. Everything that is still standing shows how well planned and technologically advanced the empire was. It was so powerful to see that the most impressive buildings still standing are the library and the theatre. I hope when there is nothing left of our society that what we have left are libraries and theatres, not banks and prisons. I guess I don't really have that much faith in us.

I think this is where I should mention that it is still fairly cold in Turkey, and thus it is the off-season. I cannot IMAGINE, nor do I want to, what Ephesus must look like during high season, because everywhere we went in Turkey the towns and cities were empty, but Ephesus was teeming with people.

After running too fast through many towns and historical "must sees" we headed to the idyllic town of Fethiye, where we spent the last three days of our trip. It is a beach town, and I DID get a tan, but it was really still too cold to lay on the beach.

Our first day in Fethiye we hiked from the old ghost town of Kayakoy (in the picture!) to Oludeniz (otherwise known as "The Blue Lagoon"). Kayakoy is an ancient town that was inhabited until the 1923, but the town was forced to evacuate all of the Greeks back to Greece, and the town was abandoned, never to be reinhabited. The town also happens to be at the beginning of the 250km Lycian way, of which Jason and i hiked a small part. Unfortunately, we followed the wrong trail markers and ended up at the locked gate to someones farm. (I seem to end up at locked gates to people's farms often when I'm hiking, right Caufield?) Anyway, we had to go back to the beginning of the hike and start again.

But, we finally made it...(here it is!) and we got about 20 minutes on the beach before it started to rain. I did not attempt the winter water.

On our 2nd day in Fethiye, we spent a perfect, relaxing day (look, I'm relaxed!) on a boat around twelve of the islands off of Fethiye. This is the only place where we met any traveller...and we picked up a few for me "going away party" my last night in Turkey. The sun was out and I finally got to wear the bathing suit that had been begging to come out of my backpack for the entire trip. Needless to say, I am ever so slightly pink-hued. I went in the water, and my fellow American teacher traveler, Eric, and I agree that the water was "Vermonty." (The few travellers we met were 99% teacher on their April breaks.) I jumped off the top deck of the boat at one of our island stops, and was reminded that the best way to get into icy cold water is to just jump in straight away--none of that pathetic slow-motion easing your way in stuff.


This is Nick, Eric, and Jason White Boy Dancing. After the day in the sun, the lot of us on the boat, headed up by John, our Australian-Turkish friend, went out for a "night on the tiles/my going away party." It was our only night going out with other travelers, and it was a blast. (I have to admit that because I don't really have any American friends in London, it was "awesome" hanging out with a couple of Americans!)

My last day in Turkey we went paragliding. That's the sport where you have a kind of giant parachute and you run off a high cliff and then float your way down to sea-level. I never saw myself doing it, but apparently we were in the place where the international championships are held every year and it seemed silly to pass up such an opportunity. I wasn't a bit nervous until one of the guys with us, Luke, couldn't get any air and landed on his face at the point before you leave the cliff...the point where you are supposed to fly. Apparently, this face-digging is pretty common. Luckily, I didn't have any bad luck, and is was smooth [air] sailing for me. My instructor forgot his Fish-eye Camera so I didn't have the opportunity to buy an overpriced DVD of me flying, but I think I got some pretty good self-photos. My instructor felt bad for forgetting the camera, so he let me steer us in the air for awhile. (SO COOL!!) We also did some spins which kind of made me feel sick to my stomach.

Finally, I boarded a bus for a 15 hour bus ride back to Istanbul (yes folks, it was only suppose to be 13 hours...or 10, depending on who you talked to). The trip to Turkey was a great balance of information, culture, and fun. It is one of the countries I've been to where I REALLY feel like I didn't get ample time to enjoy the country and will most certainly return. Luckily, I am heading to Greece with Julie next month, so I don't have much time to lament my lack of time while traveling ;)

Love you all,

Sarah

PS: You know the drill about commenting.

I'm not a chicken, you're just a TURKEY? (Part I)

I have a field jumping problem.

Hey Everyone!

**Warning: This blog is written in two parts, to avoid overload.**

Turkey was such a unique, new experience for me. It really is nothing like any country I have ever been to before, mostly due to the fact that I have never been in a predominantly Muslim country before. Another major difference for me in my travels is that, even in touristy areas, most people do not speak English and, as my Turkish is limited to "thank you, please, your welcome, one, two, beer, and I love you my teddy bear," the language barrier was a bit of a shocker for me. Thank goodness for body language and hand gestures!

This all being said, I'd heard that it would be difficult for a woman traveler, but for the most part, I did not have any problems. (I don't think "women-heckling" gets any worse than in Harlem.) It was, of course, helpful to be traveling with a male, instead of a group of females.

So, we started out spending a few days in Istanbul. It was my first foray into couchsurfing (which, since I didn't end up chopped up into little pieces, stuffed into a suitcase, and buried at the bottom of the sea, I can now tell me parents about without the fear of an instant heart attack), and it was such a positive experience. For those of you unaware of what couchsurfing is, it is an alternative to hosteling. It is a community of people around the world that lets you sleep on their couch and show you around their city. After doing it, I highly recommend it because you actually get to see a city, not through the eyes of a tourist, but through the eyes of a local who shows you "local places." The most fun nights I had in Turkey were definitely the nights we spent with couch surfer hosts...but more on that later.

Clearly, this is Istanbul at night. I got into Istanbul at night and met up with Jason and our couch surfer Ilker. We went out for what I think was my favorite night in Turkey. We went to Ilker's favorite bar, which incidentally, was on the top floor of an apartment building. Jason and I later found out that the majority of good bars and restaurants are hidden somewhere in unmarked apartment buildings. Needless to say, we wouldn't have found this particular one without Ilker. There was a Turkish band playing rock with traditional Turkish music in the background. It. It sounded very Balkan to me. Think "Golgol Bordello" complete with heavily mustachioed waif-like front man who makes "Eastern European Rockstar" look sexy. When the band finished, the DJ spun Balkan, ,Turkish, and Salsa for the rest of the night. TIANA--I felt like I was back home at Mehenata.

We could only stay with Ilker for a night, unfortunately, and we ended up staying with a girl the next night named Salem. She was lovely, but lived too far out of the city, so we stayed in a hostel for the rest of our time in Istanbul.

We spent or days in Istanbul being as touristy as possible. We went to the Blue Mosque (pictured) and the Aya Sofya (incidentally only days before Obama did! That man is following me! The Blue Mosque was stunning. I'd never seen the inside of a mosque before, and because everyone has to take their shoes off out of respect, I realized that not only was it beautiful, but also kind of smelly :) On the mosque note--I thought the call to prayer five times a day was a kind of polyphonic beauty. It sounds over the loudspeaker in the city, and you can hear it at the same time coming from many different religious leaders at many different mosques.

As Istanbul tourists we also took a boat ride on the Bosphorous (so cold!!), drank tons of apple tea, had nargile/hookah while sitting outside overlooking the sea (still so cold!!), but the definite highlight for me was the Topkapi Palace. The palace architecture and tiles themselves were spectacular, but it was the relics that the palace contained that really blew my mind. We were standing in this long queue to get into a small room that my audioguide (yea, I'm an audioguide junkie) didn't say anything about. Everyone is standing in front of a glass case with a large sword inside, and I'm thinking, "Really, another sword? I've already seen a room full of swords...not to mention all of the thieved swords in the V and A and the British Museum in London. I queued for this??" As I'm thinking this, I get nearly knocked over by Jason who is hitting me whilst having some sort of epileptic fit of what turned out to be excitement. The words is David's. As in David and Goliath. You know, the one that David used to chop of Goliath's head. WHAT? THEN, in the next glass box was, get this, Moses' staff. You know, the "part the Red Sea" staff? following these items there was also a footprint of Mohamed the Prophet, someones skull, and John the Baptist's Arm. Yea, a bronze case over an arm...not a cast, but a protective case. I guess after he was beheaded, the powers that be thought it would be a good idea to chop off his arm and save it for a rainy day. AWESOME!

Our last night in Istanbul we had a blast with Murat (Ilker's housemate), and some of his friends. They took us to some more "apartment bar/clubs," and I decided that every bar in the world should keep tamborines and belly dancing skirts behind the bar for all to enjoy. Needless to say, Turkish people LOVE to go out and dance!

Meet Jason, my dread-headed, hippie-dancing, eyes-closed, travel buddy, and soon to be housemate! Also pictured, with Tamborine, is Murat, our awesome couch-surfing host extraordinaire.

BEEP. End of part one. Go have a cuppa, and come back for part two.

Love, Sarah

Turkey Bound (and Goodbye Hockey Season)

HEY!

This is going to be so short it will blow your mind! I'm really just writing to let you all know that I made a last minute decision to go to TURKEY! I'm going with Jason, MY NEW ROOMMATE. (And also, one of my few teacher friends here.) I just bought my ticket last week, but it was relatively inexpensive, and Turkey has always been #1 on my list, so I thought...now is the time! I've already decided 10 days won't be long enough, but alas, that is all the time my budget can afford right now. I will spend the other week of my vacation (yes, we have a TWO week Easter holiday) gallivanting around England proper, for once. I think that, at the very least, Bath and Stonehenge are on the agenda. And MAYBE some Brighton/Cornwall/Devon (that's the beach for you non-English-ites) if the weather is nice! (I'm also going hiking in the Peak District over Bank Holiday in May. Thank goodness for finally getting out of London!)

So yes, the roommate search, which had taken a turn for the worst, has now ended successfully. Jason will be moving in with us on May 1st. He has wanted to live with us since he saw our place during our house-warming party so long, long ago...but the timing wasn't right. Well, the stars have aligned, and Jason will be moving in. You'll be seeing more photos of him in the future (...the crazy, dread-headed hippy that he is ;) )

In other news, the hockey season is over. Check us OUT. We are HOT. hehe. Or ridiculous. Or something. Thank goodness for summer hockey (starting May), otherwise honestly, half of my social life (and attempts at staying in shape) would be completely shot. And...there is talk of making a CRICKET team out of hockey girls. I don't know if I'm up for that...but it would certainly be something to write home about. (Does anyone even know the rules for the game???)

For some slightly trivial music news, I just bought a ticket for this for eleven pounds, INCLUDING service charge. Hell yea! And, a ticket for the Bouncing Souls, for 16 pounds, which isn't half bad. And this is a shout out to Chris, but, in other music news, I have a HUGE music crush on Eugene McGuinness, and apparently am destined to be out of the country EVERY time he plays London, which is pretty much monthly. What the EFF? (And let's not get me started on not getting Idlewild tickets. I'll cry.)

And now, about work. I, for the first time in nearly six months, worked in a highly-functional secondary school this past week...and I will be doing PATERNITY leave after April break for TWO WEEKS. I will be taking over for an English teacher (who also happens to be the head of the department) for two weeks. It will be nice to finally be able to use my education...I think my experience is atrophying a little bit here. The primary school kids bore me sometimes, to be honest.

So, to wrap things up...nothing new, fun, or interesting is going on here ;) I don't know if anyone remembers this, but I think I wrote about how for my New Years Resolution I gave up impulsive decision making, or something like that. It's going really well for me, and I realized on Saturday (at our hockey formal where everyone was kiiiind of ridiculous) that I actually don't think of it as a resolution anymore, but that I actually don't WANT to make silly decisions. (Earlier in the year, perhaps I would want to make decisions knowing full well they weren't a good idea, but I wouldn't do it "on principle." But now, silly decisions LESS frequently cross my mind. I say LESS, because, lets be honest. We all think about doing things we KNOW aren't in our best interests, alllll the time...you know, like walking across the street when the red hand is on the lamp-post ;) )

Right-O. So, you should probably leave a comment, or something. :)

Love, Sarah

Falling in and out of love...with London

Hello!!!

Happy Belated St. Paddy's Day!! In honor of St. Paddy's Day, I would like to let people who live under rocks see this.

Now, moving on...London is a rollercoaster, and I want to get off. Really...one day I love it, and the next...I'm dreaming of Ireland. (Or Portland.)

So, from where I left off, ironically, the day after I wrote my last blog about how I was "really getting settled into my new school," I got a call from my agency that the woman who was on leave from the position I had taken over at Globe Academy, was coming back. In other words, I was out of a permanent job, once again. It hasn't been so bad being back to regular daily substitute teaching, but as I mentioned previously, not much has changed in my feelings of restlessness towards substitute teaching. (At least it's fairly good money, and "is a great experience in working abroad, I guess.)

Since the last blog, a fair amount of random things have gone on in life in London. Firstly, one of our housemates, Tim, is moving out. Quite frankly, he's the least awesome one of us, who never hangs out with the house and instead is a recluse in his room playing computer games...but, it's a huge pain in the a** trying to get someone to fill his space at this time of year. We have been looking for a new housemate for about three weeks now, and we have absolutely no takers. The cool people who have come to see the house, have consistently called us alter to tell us they found something in a better neighborhood, and then there have been the fair bit of crazies who, clearly, we aren't going to live with. The latest, whose name, incidentally, is KURT RUSSELL, actually asked us what our STAR SIGNS were. (LU-NA-TIC!) Needless to say, it has been a huge stress for us recently, and I don't know what we are going to do if we can't get someone to move in...

I recently found the best bar in London...called The Lexington...that serves BROOKLYN LAGER AND SIERRA NEVADA. What?!! Random thought, but very blog-worthy.

I went to the St. Patrick's Day Parade last week and it was shockingly smaller than the one in NYC. You'd think, being closer to Ireland and all, it would have been huge...

Look! Spring! After the parade a few of us went to Green Park (one of the MANY parks in London). It was the first perfect, warm, sunny day London has had in many, many months (and the first since I have been here) and the whole city came out of their shells. Hundreds of people were picnic-ing and laying around in the sun. It reminded me SO much of Central Park come spring. And, I should say, I fell completely in love with London.

There is nothing more wonderful than sitting in a park, surrounded by green, surrounded by a city, and lazing-around with your friends. (l-r: Jill, Helen, Rob, Sadhbh) It could only have been bested by a novelty flying disk (JAMES, you were missed!) or some playing cards. And yesterday, I got sunburned playing hockey!! Of course, my love-crush with London was shattered only days later when it took me 1.5 hrs to get into London city from my friends' place in Stoke Newington. (For those of you non-Londonphiles, it should only have taken about 25 minutes...I HATE London transport!!!)

My hockey team...we never win...but we are winners at life? Oh no. Did I really just say that? (l-r: emma, me, gabby, rowena, jo, lydia, minty, anna)

And now...for a list: The Short List of New Favorites:
1. Bar--The Lexington
2. Sport to watch on T.V--Rugby (One of the best sporting events I've EVER watched on Television...up there with 2004 Red Sox...)
3. Neighborhood--Stoke Newington (This isn't really a New Favorite...but recently I've been reminded of how much I love it...despite it's lack of proximity to a tube station.)
4. New Irish Crush--Tommy Bowe (Scroll down to the bottom and watch the video. Honestly, if I didn't love him before, with his tiny shorts and mouthguard on the pitch, then I certainly love him for having the guts to sing in front of this crowd.)
5. Hair Color--Ginger (Well, let's just say that I let Jaz dye my hair a couple days ago with a hairdye bought at the pound shop...and, well, now, I'm a little bit of a red head. But just a little bit.)

Well, this has been pretty short, for once (so no excuses about commenting!!) Happy Spring!

Love, Sarah

The strangest weeks!

Hey!

I will try to keep this RELATIVELY short (haha) because I have no pictures to back up all the writing...I have been lazy with my camera lately...I'll start taking it out again...I promise!

I don't know where to start! But firstly, I want to give a special shout-out to my momzers for sending me the most amazing package which is now fueling this blog. (Thank goodness for mini-pretzels and WHY do they not exist in this pretzel-forsaken country?!)

To keep things interesting, let me start out with a fun list:
Top 5 weirdest/most unpleasant/strangest things that have happened to me lately:
1) Ran into Eamonn on the tube. (What are the chances?) Apparently, we are trying to be friends again, or something like that.
2) Got pooped on in the pre-school. I'm pretty sure I did NOT sign up for that.
3) Taught a class full of kids with lice. (School sounds AWESOME, doesn't it?)
4) Got a RAW chicken leg dropped on my head by a SEAGULL (again, what? I'm PRETTY sure I don't live by the sea...)
5) I still had/have? bed bugs...even after the extermination...but, the exterminator came again last week, and I feel pretty confident (fingers crossed) that they are gone for good this time.

Alright, and now for the chronological order section of the blog...

I started my new teaching job 2.5 weeks ago...and I think it is the toughest school I've ever worked in. I mean, it is a primary/elementary school, so it is different then the toughness encountered at DHS and NHS, but, tough nonetheless. I scream, a lot, everyday, which I loathe doing. The kids are wild, and unruly, and slightly disrespectful (though some of them are angelic), and so so soooo far below grade-level. Sound familiar NYC teachers? The thing is...I have no contractual commitment, but for some reason, I have decided to stick with it.

In all honesty, it's a hard school to be in, but 3 out of 5 days I enjoy myself. The other teachers are young, intelligent, and caring, which really helps. And, to be honest, the kids really love me. (Some of them don't seem to respect me very much....but they are extremely warm, ironically.) And, of course, they are needy...which I think is the main reason why I don't want to leave the school. I already feel "sucked-into" their world of neediness, and I don't want to give up on them. (Again, NYC teachers will know exactly what I'm talking about.) They do suck a lot of energy out of me, and I'm tired a lot, but I enjoy going to the same school everyday and having those bonds that you have with students when they are "yours." Because I teach the same students on a schedule (same students every Monday, every Tuesday, etc), they are used to me, and they ask me when I'm teaching them next when they see me in the hallways or canteen. Friday is Red Nose Day so I will be proudly wearing my red nose and doing a relay race for charity during lunch. I guess you could say I'm getting involved in the school :)

In other teaching news, the truth is, I'm still not sure where I'm going to be next year, but to let the cat out of the bag, I've been sending out applications to schools/jobs of interest in London/Surrey, Portland and Seattle. Basically, it's time for me to move somewhere green. New York City is also on the radar, as is Denver, CO (Kirstin--Here's your shout-out!), but I haven't actively sought out jobs in those places, yet. However, neither NYC, nor Portland OR Seattle are hiring teachers for next year. I know that sounds like complete hyperbole...but check their websites...it's the truth. At least in the public sector. They, and many other school systems, have "put a cap on new hires" and are going to be "re-circulating" people around the system. In other words, I have no chance. Which leaves private schools, and other jobs. (Any thoughts on other jobs? I'm thinking...truck driver...lunch-lady...chaiwalla?) So...I'm going to avoid recession talk for the rest of this blog, but, according to my sources ;), I should just stay put if I have a job here, because I'm not going to be able to find one in The States. (My mum is worrying about my lack of benefits, but right now, I feel like the fact that I don't have a pension plans seems better than not having a job at all, right?!)

Okay, so let's see then, besides the new job...I guess I should blog a little bit about social things, right? Fat Tuesday, otherwise known as Mardi Gras, otherwise known as Shrove Tuesday, is ALSO otherwise known as PANCAKE Tuesday! Basically, the tradition in the British Isles has it that on the last day before Lent, people used to make pancakes (really more like crepes) to get rid of all of the things they wouldn't be eating for lent...sweet jams, sugar, eggs, butter, etc. It has become a British/Irish tradition to have pancakes on the day before Lent...and EVERYONE does it. It's practically a national holiday. Needless to say, I decided it was time I put myself out there and finally threw my first dinner party in London. It was more of a "breakfast for dinner" party, but it was a huge blast. (I know enough people now to throw a dinner party, yay!) We had savory AND sweet pancakes...American style AND Crepe style, and lots and lots of Mimosas (also known as "Bucks Fizz" here in England). I wish I had pictures, because we all had an awesome time, and the kitchen was a DISASTER. It's nice to be able to have a dinner party with a reasonably sized kitchen now, though. It makes such a difference (and damn, do I sound horribly domestic)!

Hockey has been another really important part of my non-work life lately, as well. It has been keeping me in shape, and the girls are really great. We had a Rugby social two weekends ago (because, for the lot of you that don't follow Rugby, it was the Six Nations Tournament--big deal) and the clubhouse was filled with people. There are 6 girls teams and 7 guys teams, so there are just so many fun people to hang out with. I won't go into too much boring detail, but I will say that, though the clubhouse closes at 11pm, there was plenty of time for me to have a Zoolander style dance-off with a total stranger. If I were slightly more shy, it could have been mortifying.

I guess that pretty much sums up anything half exciting that has been going on here lately. I had the best night that I have had yet in London this past Saturday. My team had gotten completely annihilated (we've yet to win a game) and I was feeling pretty down, but I ended up going out dancing with a couple of my housemates and Jill. We ended up staying out way too late and finding this really awesome unpretentious place to dance. (They played IDLEWILD. Who DOES that?!!!) London has its redeeming qualities...and great dance venues is certainly one of them!

Anyway, I'll take more photos for the next blog, and I'll keep everyone posted about any future returns to the states (as well as anything else half exciting that's going on).

Comment? haha.

Love Sarah